Los Angeles to Washington, DC

Between Los Angeles and Washington, DC, 1.9 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 12 thousand flights of about 2,306 miles and 4.7 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 290 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 216 kg on Spirit Airlines to 394 kg on Delta Air Lines.

290 kgCO2 per passenger, average
2,306 milesabout 4.7 hours in the air
1.9 millionpassengers in 2025
85%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.

Los Angeles to Washington, DC by airline, 2025

Airline	Share of passengers	Flights (thousands)	Main aircraft	Seats per flight	Seats filled	kg CO2 per passenger
United Airlines	50%	5.7	Boeing 737-900ER, Boeing 737 MAX 9	194	85%	298
Southwest Airlines	19%	2.5	Boeing 737 MAX 8, Boeing 737-800	171	82%	279
American Airlines	13%	1.4	Airbus A321neo, Airbus A321	196	86%	260
Alaska Airlines	8%	1.1	Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737 MAX 9	165	88%	285
Delta Air Lines	6%	0.7	Boeing 757-200	169	87%	394
Spirit Airlines	5%	0.5	Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320neo	219	85%	216

What explains the differences

It's number 75 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 5 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.13 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 2,306 miles in this set comes out at about 312 kg, so this one is 7.0% below it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: IAD to LAX (45%), BWI to LAX (27%), DCA to LAX (24%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 83% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 4,106 gallons per flight and 186 passengers on each, and Delta Air Lines 5,936 gallons and 147 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 61% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 39%. Spirit Airlines flew 85% full here against 87% for Delta Air Lines, flying mostly Airbus A321neo against Boeing 757-200.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.163 kg per passenger-mile) would give 376 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 23% lower.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 2.2 million passengers on 14 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.9 million, down 14%, on 12 thousand flights, down 16%. The average flight had 172 seats then and 186 now, and 89% of them were filled against 85%.

CO2 per passenger was 301 kg in 2019 and 290 kg in 2025, down 3.6%. Fuel burned per flight was down 0.2% (4,715 gallons to 4,705) and passengers per flight were up 3.5% (153 to 158). The distance flown was about the same (2,305 miles then, 2,306 now).

United Airlines led in both years, with 40% of passengers in 2019 and 50% in 2025. Alaska Airlines lost the most, 19% to 8%.

Airline by airline, American Airlines went from 314 kg to 260 kg per passenger (166 seats per flight to 196, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 then and Airbus A321neo now); Southwest Airlines went from 271 kg to 279 kg per passenger (168 seats per flight to 171, main aircraft Boeing 737-800 then and Boeing 737 MAX 8 now).

The airports changed too: IAD to LAX handled 50% of the passengers in 2019 and 45% in 2025.

Los Angeles to Washington, DC, 2019 and 2025

Measure	2019	2025
Passengers (thousands)	2,171	1,877
Flights (thousands)	14.2	11.9
Seats filled	89%	85%
Gallons of fuel per flight	4,715	4,705
kg CO2 per passenger	301	290

Kilograms of CO2 per passenger on the airlines that flew the route in both years. 2019 figures use that year's filings and estimated aircraft fuel rates, with type-average replacements for missing or outlying filings as described in the methodology. Less is better.

Los Angeles to Washington, DC and back: time in the air

Flights from Washington, DC to Los Angeles spent 304 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 265 minutes from Los Angeles to Washington, DC: 39 minutes longer, 15% more. That's the westbound direction, into the prevailing west-to-east winds, which at flight levels often blow at well over 50 miles an hour.

At this route's average burn of about 993 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 648 gallons per flight, which is about 4.1 gallons or 40 kg of CO2 for each passenger on the slower direction. The route figure above averages both directions.

Time in the air by direction, 2025

Direction	Average minutes in the air	Flights
Washington, DC to Los Angeles	304.0	5,930
Los Angeles to Washington, DC	264.8	5,941

Fly or drive

Driving is about 2,698 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 801 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 176% more than the 290 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (267 kg each, and 200 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 1,063 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person, Los Angeles to Washington, DC. Driving figures divide one car's emissions between the people in it. See flying vs driving for other trip lengths.

Flights are listed under the airline that operates them, so regional flying appears under the regional. How the CO2 and drive figures are worked out is in the methodology.

Routes with shared cities or nearby CO2 per mile

Airports on this route: Washington Dulles International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Airport and airline references

Source: US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), T-100 traffic and Schedule T-2 fuel filings; US EPA transport emission factors. See the methodology.

See all routes, or how the airlines compare overall on the airline pages.